Lego Challenge #5: Build a model based on an architectural style

Tom Alphin is the author of the bestselling new book: The LEGO Architect. Explore 7 common architectural styles with photos of amazing LEGO creations, a brief history of each style, and follow clear instructions to build your own models using common LEGO bricks!

Today’s challenge: Pick a distinct architectural style and build a model based on it.

I am not an architect, and I have never taken classes in Architecture. That said, I am familiar with some of the most common styles even if I can’t always refer to them by name. For today’s project, I browsed a few galleries with examples from a couple of different architectural styles, and picked one as the inspiration for a model of my own creation.

Architectural style resources

Since I don’t have any books on Architecture beyond the book that came with my Lego Architecture Studio set, I simply searched online for terms like “architectural styles”. The following are a few resources that I found helpful…

The best reference I found was an excellent collection of architectural styles with many examples of each style, and it happens to be from my home state: Architectural Style Guide from Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historical Preservation.

“Shed” architectural style

After reviewing a few styles on the WA State Architectural Style Guide, I was drawn to building a model based on a style I’m familiar with from the Pacific Northwest. There are several examples of Shed-style architecture in this area, including Sixty 01, a condo and townhome community near our home which I’m sure was built in the 1965 – 1985 timeframe associated with the style. The common traits of the examples of the style that I saw were wood exteriors and bold sloping roof-lines that rarely meet in a single peak.

Examples of Shed style architecture from dahp.wa.gov

My Interpretation

My idea for this project was to make a home with two stories in front and one in back that utilized overlapping “L” shaped roofs that come to mismatched peaks. In a real-life implementation, water management where the two roof-lines join would be a issue, but not to worry, my model is built out of plastic so it will be completely waterproof!

Front of my Shed-style home

Getting this angular design right required two steps which I hadn’t done on prior projects:

Breaking my rule and using pieces outside of the Lego Architecture Studio set (I used 4 hinges to join the two roof segments. I’m sure I could have done this another way, but this was *much* easier.)

Creating a prototype to get the shape right, then building a detailed model with accents such as windows and doors later.

Even after making the prototype, I made a significant change in the final design by extending the roofline by 1 unit. This gave the home a better look and covers some of the imperfections where the roof and walls meet.

Photo Gallery

This model was complex enough that I needed to build a prototype of the roof and basic home shape.

Front of my Shed-style home

Rear of home

Detail showing roof overlap

Roof removed

Roof Removed to see inside structure

Conclusion

Between researching different styles and the actual build, this was my most time consuming project yet. Thankfully, I am happy with the result. I’m particularly pleased that the finished project closely followed the idea I had created in my mind – it’s nice when the idea isn’t lost in translation. I definitely expect to repeat this project with other styles, this was a lot of fun even if it was time consuming. (I know the model is good when I really don’t look forward to taking it apart.)

build time: 2 hours.

Do you know of any great online resources about famous architecture or architectural styles? If so, leave a comment below.